204 NORTHRN MEMOIRS. 





truth on't by pregnant demonstration. How- 

 ever it shaked my credulity at first, though pos- 

 sibly it may remove the jealousy of another, if 

 when provided with patience he can suspend 

 his suspicion till better inform'd, or confirm him- 

 self of the plenty of salmon in these remote 

 northern parts. For I grant, others with my 

 self of a like perswasion may question this re- 

 port, till convinc'd by the truth of ocular de- 

 monstration ; that these northern rivers are the 

 riches of the country. 



Here the salmon relinquish the salts, because 

 by the porposses pursued up the freshes ; just 

 so the shad is chased by the sturgeon, and so are 

 the smaller fry by the ravenous pike : Nature 

 directs self-security, and nothing stands in com- 

 petition with life. Where note, the salmon are 

 compell'd to desert the deeps, and seek sanctu- 

 ary from the sandy sholes ; as I my self and 

 others have often observed the porposses pursue 

 them in the frothy foming waves of the Ness, 

 for it may be some two or three miles together ; 

 till their strength imparing, which oft-times 

 compels them to court the shores, though with 

 hazard of life. And sometimes they meet with 

 a precipice of rocks (as these at Brawn) which 

 with an impossibility they perpetually attempt, 

 though to no purpose as to self-security. 



This oracle explicated, who so incredulous to 



